1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing method and apparatus capable of changing attributes of image data. The invention also relates to an image processing method and apparatus for determining the attribute of an input image.
2. Related Background Art
In a character recognition apparatus, a character area or block is extracted from a document image input from an image scanner or the like, and a character recognition process is performed after it is checked whether the attribute (horizontal writing, vertical writing, and the like) is incorrect or after an operator designates an attribute of each character block.
If there are a number of character blocks and an operator designates the attribute of each block, the work required by an operator becomes complicated and very cumbersome.
According to the invention, since a correction of an image attribute automatically judged can be performed with simple operations, a correct image attribute can be easily set.
According to the invention, since a correction can be performed collectively for a plurality of subjects, the correction work becomes easy.
According to the invention, irrespective of the types of initial attributes automatically judged, the attributes of a plurality of subjects can be designated by the common operation so that a correction work environment easy to be understood by a user can be provided.
According to the invention, the attribute of an image is represented by a symbol pattern. Therefore, a large amount of information can be displayed on a small number of display areas and an environment that a user can grasp an attribute easily and sensitively.
According to the invention, a character recognition starts after the image attribute is corrected so that a recognition rate is improved.